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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1976

Effect of lithium and other alkali metals on brain chemistry and behavior. I. Glutamic acid and GABA in brain regions.

Glutamic acid and GABA concentrations were measured in brain areas of rats injected with the chloride salts of Li+, Na+, K", Rb+ or Cs+ for 5 days. Regional changes in brain glutamic acid and GABA were found in animals after lithium, rubidium or cesium, but not potassium, compared to sodium treatments. Increased glutamic acid and GABA levels, caused by lithium and rubidium, were found in brain structures (hypothalamus and amygdala) known to be involved in emotional behavior. Whether these changes are associated with the effective use of lithium and, perhaps, of rubidium in affective disorders remains obscure.

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed1977

Influence in rats of dietary fats during the perinatal period: effects upon brain chemistry of dams and offspring.

Female rats were fed a purified ration containing 20% fat during gestation and lactation and the offspring were fed a commercial ration after weaning. The fat content of the purified ration was butter oil, a mixture of equal parts of butter oil and lard, or safflower oil. Brains of the dams were analyzed 1 month after parturition and brains of the offspring were analyzed when they were 20 weeks of age. Brains of the dams and offspring fed the safflower oil (about 75% linoleic acid) exhibited changes if comparisons were made with those fed other fats. In the dams, the percentage of cerebral weight as related to total brain weight was increased and the dry weight percentages of the cerebrum and brainstem were increased. In the cerebrums of male and female offspring, the DNA concentrations were increased and the RNA:DNA ration were decreased.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Effects of undernutrition and protein malnutrition on brain chemistry of rats.

The present study was undertaken to assess the effects of different degrees of nutritional restrictions during fetal life, suckling, and after weaning on the chemical composition of the brain. At 42 days of age, the rats were killed, and the brains were processed for analyses. The rats exposed to severe protein malnutrition after weaning had lower brain weights than those on controls. The brain seems to be resistant to the effects of moderate protein malnutrition imposed during suckling or after weaning. Thus, the brain is either resistant to the effects of mild nutritional deficiency imposed during suckling, or brain composition is very responsive to nutritional rehabilitation initiated after weaning. The effects of severe undernutrition during suckling were not, however, reversed when adequate nutrition was initiated after weaning. The suckling period seems to be critical during development, as the process of myelination was lowered and the levels of electrolytes were irreversibly disturbed. The brains of the rats born to the mothers protein malnourished during gestation were not significantly different from those of controls. The brain seems to be either preferentially protected from the effects of malnutrition imposed during fetal development, or the brain component are very responsive to nutritional rehabilitation initiated immediately after birth. It is suggested that the mother's nutritional status during gestation does not significantly affect the development of the brain. When the young were born to and nursed by protein-malnourished mothers, the growth and the maturation of the brain in such animals were similar to those in rats moderately undernourished during suckling. Growth and maturation of the brain are affected by a lowered level of protein in the diet. Moderate undernutrition imposed during suckling is not important, but the effect is maximum when undernutrition is severe during this period. The suckling period is therefore, comparatively more critical during development.

Acetylcholinesterase↗
PubMed1976

Effect of lithium and other alkali metals on brain chemistry and behavior. II. Intracranial self-stimulation behavior.

Rats implanted with bipolar electrodes aimed at the medial forebrain bundle (MFB) were trained to self-stimulate. Six daily injections of 2 mEq/kg of the chloride salts of Li+, Rb+ or Cs+ were administered and the rate of intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) was recorded. Lithium caused a reversible decrease in ICSS rate, beginning on the second day and returning to pretreatment rate on the fourth day of injections. The decrease was more pronounced in animals with high baseline rate (over 500 responses/10 min) than in low responders. Rubidium enhanced ICSS rate whereas cesium had no effect. These results agree with other accumulating data showing the opposite effects of Li+ and Rb+, but their relevance to effective disorders is not clear.

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed1979

Hypnotic effect of tryptophan analog in rats.

The effects of DL 2-amino-3-(1-naphthyl) propanoic acid, a tryptophan analog, on sleep and brain chemistry were investigated in rats. Similar to previous findings with tryptophan, the tryptophan analog (30 mg/kg, IP) reduced slow-wave sleep (SWS) latency. The reduction in SWS latency occurred at a time when 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) concentration was reduced in the cortex, pons-medulla and striatum-thalamus with no change in the concentration of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, a major metabolite of 5-HT. At the same time, norepinephrine concentration was reduced in the cortex, hippocampus and striatum-thalamus with a marked reduction (40%) in cortical dopamine (DA). The reduction of cortical DA coincided with a 53% decrease in homovanillic acid, a major metabolite of DA. The behavioral effect of tryptophan analog for six hours, as monitored by the EEG, was an increase in SWS by 25 min and a decrease in waking by 29 min. These data suggest that the effects of the tryptophan analog on sleep may be due to the attenuation of the activity of brain catecholamines and imply that tryptophan may as well produce its hypnotic effect via a similar mechanism.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Social grouping cannot account for cerebral effects of enriched environments.

Several experiments were conducted to test whether, as suggested by Welch et al. in this journal, mere group living (social stimulation) can account for the significant differences in measures of brain anatomy and brain chemistry that develop between rodents housed in groups in enriched environments and rodents housed singly in restricted environments; the alternative hypothesis was that features of the inanimate environment can significantly affect brain measures of animals living in a social group. Groups of 12 male rats were assigned for 30 days to several types of environment: (a) large cage without stimulus objects, (b) large cage containing varied stimulus objects, (c) large cage containing a maze whose pattern of barriers was changed daily, and (d) a seminatural outdoor environment; in each experiment, littermates of rats in the social conditions were housed in isolation in small colony cages. At the end of the 30-day period, measures were taken of weights of brain regions, RNA and DNA contents of regions of cerebral cortex, and acetylcholinesterase activities of brain regions. Although the number of rats housed together was constant for conditions a--d and cage size was constant for conditions a--c, the magnitudes of the cerebral measures varied significantly as a function of the inanimate stimulus conditions. The differences from isola;ion-housed littermates was greatest in condition d and smallest in condition a. Thus, social grouping alone is inadequate to explain the cerebral effects of enriched environments and the inanimate stimulus conditions must be taken into account.

Acetylcholinesterase↗
PubMed1976

Measurement of effective atomic number and electron density using an EMI scanner.

Computed tomography, employing an EMI scanner at two beam energies, can be used to obtain information about the electron density and the effective atomic number of materials. The theory which is discussed has been verified experimentally and then applied in the investigation of some brain tumours in vivo. It is anticipated that, as techniques improve, the ability to carry out chemical and physical analysis of pathological processes in vivo will be an important application of computed tomography.

Brain Chemistry↗
PubMed1977

The fatty acid composition of sphingomyelin from adult human cerebral white matter and changes in childhood, senium and unspecific brain damage.

A micromethod for the investigation of the fatty acid composition of sphingomyelin in presented. In the cerebral white matter of 17 normal adult brains, analyzed for reference, the predominant fatty acids are C 18:0 and C 24:1. Our results are in agreement with those of other authors. Short chained fatty acids are relatively increased in young children; this shift is typical of "immature" myelin. Similar changes are described here in old persons and cases of non-specific brain damage associated with demyelination (autolysis, chronic uremia, juvenile chorea). Sphingomyelin fatty acid composition can be considered a sensitive measure of both disturbed myelination and demyelination.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Comparative study of the fatty acid composition of glycerophosphatides from whole vertebrate brain and portions of it].

Fatty acids of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine and monophosphoinositide were studied in the whole brain, in the forebrain and the brain stem in the frog Rana temporaria, tortoise Emys orbicularis, hen and cat. Every family of phospholipids (PL) possesses a characteristic fatty acid pattern irrespectively of the brain part. There are regular topologic differences in the fatty acid composition of PL, namely the relative amount of saturated and polyenoic acids is higher and that of monoenoic acids lower in the forebrain as compared to the brain stem. The increase in the relative size of the forebrain, occurring in the evolution of vertebrate brain, exerts a definite influence on the fatty acid composition of the total brain. Nevertheless this increase in the size of the forebrain does not solely determine the fatty acid composition of the total brain. Similar changes are occurring in all brain parts: the relative amount of saturated fatty acids of PL is increasing and that of unsaturated acids decreasing. The evolutionary deductions derived from the biochemical study of the total brain find confirmation in the investigation of the brain parts.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Concentration and composition of gangliosides in portions of the vertebrate brain].

Studies have been made on gangliosides from various parts of the brain in 5 species of cartilaginous fishes, 2 species of teleosts, 2 amphibian species, 2 avian species and 3 species of mammals. Almost in all the species investigated, the highest content of gangliosides per weight unit of the brain were found in the forebrain (determinations were carried out by sialic acid, sometimes by sphingosine). Ganglioside content of brain structure in warm-blooded animals is higher that in corresponding structures of fishes and amphibia. Comparative studies on ganglioside composition in the brain of fishes and mammals indicate that brain structures exhibit the same pattern of molecular organization, as the whole brain of the species studied (high polysialoganglioside content in teleosts, predominance of gangliosides with a short carbon chain in cartilaginous fishes, etc.). Besides this fact, peculiarities of composition typical of the brain structures were found as well (more polar composition of gangliosides of the cerebellum and some other ones).

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Studies on neuronal lipid.

The procedure for bulk preparation of nerve-cell perikarya from pig brain-stem is briefly described. This method has definite merits with regard to the preservation of the intracellular structures as well as the preservation of the processes. The chemical composition of the isolated nerve-cell perikarya is presented. The nerve-cell perikarya are characterized by the absence of cerebroside and sulfatide. Diffuse distribution of ganglioside on the cell surface is suggested. The lipid content of the nerve-cell perikarya isolated by different methods is discussed. Lipid composition of the invertebrate nervous tissue is discussed. The submicrosomal membranes of rat brain are isolated, and their chemical and morphological properties are discussed. Ribosome-free membranes are characterized by the high content of glycolipids including gangliosides, as well as by the high activity of Na, K-ATPase, whereas ribosome-bound membranes are characterized by the absence of glycolipids, as well as by the low activity of Na, K-ATPase. The molecular organizations of lipid in submicrosomal membranes are demonstrated.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1979

[Denaturation changes in the proteins of the membrane structures of the brain during deprivation of the paradoxical stage of sleep].

24--96-hour REM-sleep deprivation entailed a rise of SH-group content in the proteins of the rat diencephalon and mesencephalon tissue homogenates, whereas SH-group content of the homogenates of the cortex, pons with medulla oblongata, and cerebellum remained unchanged. Neither did the content of SH-groups change in the soluble protein fraction nor the content of low-molecular thiol substances in the brain parts under study. From among the subcellular fractions of the brain-stem homogenate, the increase of SH-group content after 24-hour REM-sleep deprivation occurred in the synaptosomal and nuclear fractions but not in the mitochondrial one. The REM-sleep deprivation did not affect the --S--S-group content in these fractions. In the anterior parts of the brain-stem only REM-sleep deprivation led to conformational changes of structural proteins towards their denaturation but without rupture of the disulfide bonds.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Prophylactically administered phenytoin. Effects on the development of chronic cobalt-induced epilepsy in the cat.

In chronic cobalt-induced experimental epilepsy in the cat, there are alterations in behavior, electroencephalograms, and brain sodium, potassium adenosine triphosphatase (Na,K ATPase) activity. The electrographic and enzymatic changes occur both in focus and homotopic cortex, and are time related. The onset of EEG paroxysms consistently precedes increases in Na,K ATPase activity, indicating that the enzymatic change is adaptive. Prophylactic treatment with phenytoin (formerly diphenylhydantoin) prevents these chronic alterations from developing, although some early changes do occur. After the drug is withdrawn following 28 days of therapy, treated animals still demonstrate no evidence of epileptiform discharges or changes in Na,K ATPase activity, although these changes persist in untreated cats. Given properly, phenytoin may prevent alterations in brain, which can result in the formation of a hyperexcitable population of cells. These data support the efficacy of early pharmacologic prophylaxis in posttraumatic epilepsy.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1976

Thiamine triphosphate levels and histopathology. Correlation in Leigh disease.

Thiamine and thiamine triphosphate (TTP) values were assayed in various brain regions in 11 controls and 13 patients with subacute necrotizing encephalomyelopathy (SNE, Leigh disease). The TTP values of normal brain were 5% of the total thiamine value. The relative TTP (or % TTP) level was consistently low in the pons, midbrain, and cerebellum of all the SNE brains. Twenty-five percent of the SNE brains had normal TTP levels in the frontal region. The TTP values correlated with the degrees of pathologic involvement in all sampled regions of the brain except the cerebellum. The concentration of thiamine in the mammillary bodies exceeded its concentration elsewhere in both control and SNE brains. The finding of low TTP levels in morphologically abnormal regions supports the hypothesis that TTP deficiency is etiologically related to SNE.

Adult↗